FOOTBALL

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 277, 20 May 1912, Page 8

FOOTBALL

WELLINGTON GAMES.

By Telegraph—l'rtss Association. Wellington, Last Night. Owing to rain some of the grounds were not available for sports yesterday. The .senior Rugby football match between Poneke and Wellington was postponed. Petone had a bye through Old Boys retiring from the competition. The games played resulted as follows: Oriental defeated Melrose by 10 points to 8, Athletic beat Southern by 13 points to 3, St. James beat College by 20 points to 3.

STAR G v. FITZROY 3. It was expected that Star would gain a much more decisive victory over Fitzroy than the score indicates, but the Blue team has much improved since its match with Rovers, and may give a good account of itself before the season closes. The match on Saturday, though not .affording by any means a great education in brilliant play, was, nevertheless, a good 'hard game, at times very exciting to the spectators, and until the whistle went for time it was anybody's game. Star took the field with only 13 men, but, this was soon made up to a full comple- j ment. From a scrum Pilcher broke away and Lala, kicking, transferred play to Fitzroy territory. Offside play re- 1 suited in a free kick for Fitzroy, From I a scrum under Fitzroy's goal John Skip- j per relieved and Dewar found the line. Give and take play f llowed. A Blue rush was well stoppc ,y McAUum, and Hawkins headed a forward rush, which Pycroft stopped in time. The Blacks kept Fitzroy well penned, taking the ball nearly through till Tanner relieved with a short kick. John Skipper was well offside, and Star had a penalty shot, which failed. Fitzroy now brought the ball well down, and offside play by Hawkins gave them a penalty, with wheh lito made no mistake. From a scrum on Fitzroy's line McAllum dived over, .but a force resulted. The Blues took the ball towards Star's goal, and C. Bellringer being offside, Fitzroy had another shot at goal, which failed. From a line-out Pike secured and centred well, but the ball went over the line. Lala secured from a line-out and passed, but Greatbateh lost the ball. Fitzroy had two more shots at goal from penalty kicks, but without success. Star's halfback now made a good opening from a scrum under Fitzroy's goal, but the chance was lost, Lala at five-eighths holding on too long. Give and take play followed, C. Bellringer relieving Star with an opportune mark. From a serum on the line McAllum and again nearly scored. Star now had Fitzroy penned for some time till a free kick relieved matters, but with a rush the Star vanguard were back again, and Charters dashed over and secured a try. Dewar's kick failed., The play went back and forth. Star forwards rushed, but spoilt by kicking too hard. The Blues frequently got the ball away, but it was as frequently returned, and the first spell ended: Fitzroy 3, Star 3. The second spell opened with a bout of' kicking, line-outs and scrums, by which neither side gained much, play hanging about half-way. From a pass by Hawkins, McAllum broke away, but the whistle recalled hm, and a free kick took play in Star's territory, Pike relieving with a good line kick. A good rush by Star was stopped by Skipper, who gained a lot of ground' before he was collared. From a serum well down the field Star secured, and a good passing rush amongst the backs ensued the ball passing through the hands of all the backs, Lala, now at wing three-qaar-ter, scoring after a good run. The kick failed, and the Blues began to wake up and although often penned down by Star made frequent rushes which, often looked dangerous. Their backs handled well Md one rush from their owi goal to that of their opponents provided a very exciting situation, ,McComsh. at fullback, just staring off the rush. Again and again Star forced them back and as frequently they came on, but could not score. Fitzroy received a penalty for offside play right under Star's goal, but Tuti could not get the ball over. Star forwards initiated a rush, and Hawkiag at their head nearly bullocked' through, i f lu ? s came on again and forced Star back. Star stared them off, b -fc a j 1 !? Ton o a Skipper gained groun I, and the situation was exciting till a free kick relieved Star in the nick of time, lhe play swayed back and forth. Hawkins took the ball right under Fitzroy's goal where the Blues had a free kick which Hawkins returned only to be marked by a Fitzroy player, and the whistle went, with the scores: Star 6 Fiteroy 3. ' OKATO (11) v. ROVERS (9). Go»d football was played at Okato, where the local fifteen secured a win by a narrow margin. The game was noteworthy on account of the spirited recovery of the Rovers about half-way' through the second spell. The kick-off saw Rovers confined to their own twentyfive for several minutes. From a serum Malone sent the hall to the Okato backs, but a wild pas.? to the wing caused Rua to mull, just as they became dangerous!. Again the Okato backs got in motion, and once more Rua failed to take a high pass. Bad handling on the part of Rovers ended in the opposing backs forcing the leather over the line, but Vyebster touched down in the nick of ' time. Rovers then commenced to be ag- I gressive, but the backs made one or two mistakes. Play was just fast . enough to be attractive from a spectacu- i lar point of view, but nothing eventful! happened until Malone had an unsuccess- ' ful shot at goal from a free kick. The Okato forwards followed this up with a dangerous rush, and Droder, who was i in fine form, forced his way over the i line. A twenty-five resulted, but the i kick did not extract Rovers from the tight corner. Another lucky forre fol- ] lowed, succeeded by a touch in goal, i Realising that the country pack were • far too tough a proposition, Rovers now 1 wisely began to open up play a little 1 more. Their backs, however, some of whom were inclined to lend too much 1 support to the forwards, failed to get going properly. Okato were more sustained in their attacks. Shortly before half-time, A. Thompson did what he should not have done; he was hard ' pressed with the ball in his arms, and « as a last resource ho passed when with- c

in a very few yards of Rovers' line. An opponent. McKay, jumped into the break, and the rest was simple. It was a lucky try, and it was a hard turn of fate for Hovers that Oka!o were enabled to slip in ho rasilv, after they had pluekily staved-olf numerous really dangerous attempts. Malone made a very poor attempt with the kick, and the spell ended a few seconds later—j Okato 3, Rovers 0. Up to this point Okato had had all the best of the game, aided to a certain extent by a topographical advantage. Rovers opened up the proceedings after the interval with tine dash, Okato having to force. Play was now fast and furious, Okato bringing their forwards into action, and Rovers their light but fast backs. Okato's next score was disappointing in the extreme to Rovers, whose stock was rising rapidly. It eame when E. Andrews snapped up Die ball and full-back Xewell merely brushing his legs in an attempt to collar him, gave him an opening. Ho passed to Carey, who fell over the line. Malone retrieved his reputation'by making no mistake with the kick. Okato 8, Rotvrs 0. Rovers several times essayed to score, hut always the heavy country pack proved their downfall. From a scrum the leather came out on Rovers' side of the pack, but McKay raced round, snapped it up and scored. {Malone failed with the kick. Okato 11, Rovers 0. Rovers' chance of winning I now appeared to be hopeless, and had t Malone passed instead of attempting to drop-kick a goal, Okato would have further increased their lead. With the knowledge that there were only about twenty minutes to go the town fifteen suddenly galvanised themselves into surprising activity, both backs and forwards working valiantly. They commenced to fling the ball around with great dash, and it was not long before Read opened up their scoring account from a strenwo,us scramble, in which lie was ably assisted by Braban. Ellis was not successful in converting. The Blacks' pressure was only broken by a, fine break-away rush by E. Andrews and McKay, in which the latter dribbled to perfection. A line-out resulted, and Reid, who was playing a sterling game, saved by marking. Rovers came down again in tine style, and Martin initiated a scoring rush. When almost within striking distance he wildly flung the ball to Reid, who dived over and scored. Webster made a good attempt at converting, the leather just going outside the uprights. Okato 11, Rovers 6. Stimulated by their success there was now no stopping Rovers. They were ''eyes out" for a win, or at least a draw. Just on call of time A. Thompson passed to E. Grant, who in turn transferred to his brother lan. This was the latter's first real chance, and, stretching his legs, he dodged several of his opponents, and, eluding all pursuit, raced home to victory, and by a wide detour scored right between the posts. Rovers then made a mistake which cost them the match, by leaving Grant to convert. As was only to be expected, he failed miserably, simply on account of oTer-eagerness and excitement. Immediately afterwards the whistle sounded, and the game ended—- | Okato 11, Rovers 9. Mr. Johnson was • referee.

next score was disappointing in the extreme to Rovers, whose stock was rising rapidly. It came when E. Andrews snapped up the ball and full-back Xewell merely brushing his legs in an attempt to collar him, gave him an opening. Ho passed to Carey, who fell over the linn. Malone retrieved his reputation'by making no mistake with the kick. Okato 8, Rotvrs 0. Rovers several times essayed to score, but always the heavy country pack proved their downfall. From a scrum the leather came out on Rovers' side of the pack, but McKay raced round, snapped it up and scored. {Malone failed with the kick. Okato 11, Rovers 0. Rovers' chance of winning I now appeared to be hopeless, and had t Malone passed instead of attempting to drop-kick a goal, Okato would have further increased their lead. With the knowledge that there were only about twenty minutes to go the town fifteen suddenly galvanised themselves into surprising activity, both backs and forwards working valiantly. They commenced to fling the ball around with great dash, and it was not long before Read opened up their scoring account from a strenwo,us scramble, in which he was ably assisted by Braban. Ellis was not successful in converting. The Blacks' pressure was only broken by a fine break-away rush by E. Andrews and McKay, in which the latter dribbled to perfection. [A line-out resulted, and Reid, who was playing a sterling game, saved by marking. Rovers came down again in fine style, and Martin initiated a scoring rush. When almost within striking distance he wildly flung the ball to Reid, who dived over and scored. Webster made a good attempt at converting, the leather just going outside the uprights. Okato 11, Rovers 6. Stimulated by their success there was now no stopping Rovers. They were ''eyes out" for a win, or at least a draw. Just on call of time A. Thompson passed to E. Grant, who in turn transferred to his brother lan. This was the latter's first real chance, and, stretching his legs, he dodged several of his opponents, and, eluding all pursuit, raced home to victory, and by a wide detour scored right between the posts. Rovers then made a mistake which cost them the match, by leaving Grant to convert. As was only to be expected, he failed miserably, simply on account of over-eagerness and excitement. Immediately afterwards the whistle sounded, and the game ended—- | Okato 11, Rovers 9. Mr. Johnson was • referee. ) ____